Some families pass down priceless heirlooms to younger generations, such as jewelry or quilts. Others give their descendants a great set of skills.
Madison Owen, graduate student in textile management and technology, comes from a long line of family cooks and has grown up in the kitchen.
“Technically, I have been cooking for 15 years, if you count me standing on a step stool to reach the counter and help my mom roll cookie dough,” Owen said.
Since Owen began college, she started experimenting with recipes and cooking for friends.
“I tend to bake layer cakes, cookies, brownies, sweets more than cook just because of my crazy schedule,” Owen said.
In the past couple of years, Owen has been cooking dinner more often and hosting parties that involve lots of work in the kitchen. This inspired her to enter her first cooking contest at last year’s State Fair. She entered the contest for the North Carolina Pecan Association and left the competition pleasantly surprised.
“I was so excited that I actually won [an] honorable mention for my first cooking contest,” Owen said. “Pies were something I did not experiment with much, so I was up for the new challenge.”
Owen decided to enter the Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Pie Baking Championship Sunday because she wanted to do something at the N.C. State Fair again.
“When I sat down to brainstorm for the pie championship, I knew that I needed to formulate a recipe that was unique. I did some research and read lots and lots of cookbooks for inspiration,” Owen said.
Owen decided to use the ingredients of a s’more because it is one of her favorite combinations of flavors, but then she also added her own twist.
“I incorporated the chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows and even added peanut butter to the pie,” Owen said.
Owen said she entered a cake last year because she was much more of an “expert” in cake baking, so it wasn’t that hard for her to create a good recipe. But pie baking is a completely different story.
“This year was all about the pie, and that was relatively new to me, so I had to start from scratch and do a lot of different test runs before I was 100 percent satisfied with the end result,” Owen said.
Owen estimates she spent about a week planning, researching and creating her pie recipe from scratch.
“Over the course of about a month, I made four different versions of the pie. I changed something every time and liked it better and better as I kept testing it,” Owen said.
Owen would change the recipe a little bit each time, such as add more peanut butter, add one more egg or switch out heavy cream for milk. Once she was happy the results, she mailed her recipe in to the judges. She also baked the pie the day before the contest to make sure it presented well.
Owen said this contest was different from last year’s because last year she merely dropped off her entry. The organizers called the participants if they won something. Owen said this year it was more official, and consequently more nerve-wracking.
Sunday afternoon, Owen dropped off her pie at 1:30 p.m. and came back at 4:30 p.m. for the announcement of the winners. The entries were judged on taste, appearance, creativity and ease of preparation.
Owen wasn’t nervous when she dropped off the pie, but she was nervous when the winners were announced. When the judges announced the results for the top three pies out of the 98 that were entered, Owen had mixed emotions.
“I did not win anything and was initially disappointed. But then [I] realized that I am only 22 years old and definitely one of the youngest contestants there,” Owen said.
Though Owen hoped to be one of the top pie bakers, she said she was not completely disappointed because some people spend years creating their recipe for the Pillsbury Pie Championship.
“I hate to admit it, but I was really hoping for a ribbon of some sort. Since I won
something last year in my competition, I feel that played against me. That was my first competition I ever entered and I got a ribbon, so it made me think I had a pretty good chance to win again,” Owen said.
Owen doesn’t feel she lost entirely because she gained a new knowledge of pie baking, and she looks forward to other cooking contests in the future.
“I am going to make it a yearly tradition to enter the N.C. State Fair cooking competitions. Next year, I might even enter in a few competitions,” Owen said.
She said that even though she loves to compete in baking contests because she is a naturally competitive person, she also bakes to show her love to friends and family.
“I just love to bake and I also love to be challenged and learn new things. For me, baking is way more than winning prizes. Baking is a way I connect with family and friends. With each baked good I give to friends, there is a little part of me and lots of love baked in,” Owen said.
